METS

Austin doubles order book

AUSTIN Engineering has reported A$82 million in new orders across the three months to the end of February, 100% up on the same time last year.

Austin doubles order book

Austin has also received an encouraging level of orders for its 2022-23 financial year pipeline.

Enquiry levels and contract win rates remain strong in all home markets.

The order book improvement is across all of Austin's home markets but dominated by the US, Chile and Indonesia.

The truck tray business has remained strong, however, it has become widespread across more jurisdictions and been supported by a stronger level of sales of buckets and other equipment.

According to Austin, its JEC high performance bucket range has attracted considerable attention and, with four months to go in this financial year, the company has already achieved a record level of sales of mine buckets compared to recent years.

Austin previously announced a series of measures aimed at improving its competitiveness by sharpening its focus on the needs of its customers in Australia and overseas.

As an example, it updated its core Ultima truck trays to meet increased demands around safety and weight carrying capacity.

The design updates have been coupled with the cost efficiencies from the advanced manufacturing approach and the hub-and-spoke build strategy, increasing Austin's product quality and cost competitiveness in the market.

This action has already delivered a material level of order wins, strengthening the FY22 order book and driving momentum into FY23.

Austin is rolling out the initial phase of its advanced manufacturing plan, following an intensive design phase, which aims to increase production efficiency, safety and quality, reduce costs and increase productivity.

It is rolling out the production system in Batam, Indonesia because that facility is running at an elevated level of throughput and that trend is expected to continue.

Austin managing director and CEO David Singleton said the doubling of orders for equipment in 12 months, and with most of the improvement in the past six months, was clear evidence the Austin 2.0 plans were working.

"Our sales campaign strategies are seeing Austin win fresh orders from existing and new customers around the globe, and at a higher win rate," he said.

"Our hub-and-spoke and final assembly partnerships mean we are markedly more cost competitive in the market.

"Our continued, accelerated investment in new product innovation and technology means we are remaining at the forefront of our industry, aligned with the needs of our customers and maintaining relevance in the market.

"Our investment in advanced manufacturing means we are increasing our efficiencies in-house. The technology means we can increase production, equipment range and quality too."

There are some clouds on Austin's horizon related to possible staff outages in Austin's Western Australian operations as the COVID-19 caseload peak arrives.

That peak is expected to hit in the next few weeks.'

"While we see some logistics risks in our WA operations due to rising COVID-19 case levels and subsequent restrictions, we are bolstered by a strong order book and pipeline looking out to full year 2023," Singleton said.

Austin shares closed at 30c yesterday, just shy of a 52-week high, valuing the company at $175 million.

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